More preserving the harvest recipes

By re-considered, Oct 3 2018 01:50PM

Here are some useful recipes to preserve some of our abundant harvest from 2018. Of particular note this year are apples and hedgerow berries - there seems to be a never ending harvest with blackberries and eldeberries in profusion.

Elderberry Syrup - help ward off winter colds and sniffles - this plant has reputed anti-viral properties and is packed with vitamin c

Carefully separate your elderberries from their stalks with a fork or your hands

Chop up a little ginger into small pieces

Put the elderberries into a pan, and cover them with water or you can use a steam juicer to extract the deep purple juices)

Bring to the boil, and then let them simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly

Pour the mixture through a jelly bag or muslin (fine cloth) and allow the juice to drip through. Extract as much liquid as possible

Pour the elderberry liquid into a measuring jug, and measure how much you have. To 500ml of juice, add 75g honey or sugar to taste strained liquid. Add chopped ginger, a cinammon stick and 4 cloves, Simmer for five minutes and then cool and pour into sterilised bottles

You can take this lovely syrup by the spoonful as it is, but it is also nice with porridge in the morning, or with yoghurt.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2016/08/elderberry/

Rhubarb cordial - A great way of using gluts of this abundant crop

300g golden caster sugar

zest and juice 1 orange

zest and juice 1 lemon

450g rhubarb chopped

1 slice fresh root ginger, peeled

Put the sugar in a large saucepan with 300ml water. Bring to a simmer then add the zest and juice of both the orange and the lemon along with the rhubarb and the ginger.

Cook the mixture over a medium heat until the rhubarb is falling apart.

Ingredients

Pour the mixture through a sieve lined with muslin into a clean heatproof jug then transfer to sterilised bottles. Keeps in the fridge for up to 1 month.

Serve diluted to taste with sparkling or still water or add to gin cocktails!.

taken from www.bbcgoodfood.com

Fruit leathers - an excellent way of using large quantities of apples to make a delicious, sugar-free snack

Choose your fruit - you can experiment with all sorts of flavour combinations - Some examples are - apple and cinamon, apple and beetroot, apple and raspberry, banana, banana and chocolate, apple and spinach, strawberry and chia, mango -

Apples make excellent fruit leather as well as other autumn fruits - plums, blackberries, pears etc.

First make a thick, spreadable puree of fruit by peeling, coring and chopping apples or other fruit where applicable and simmering on a low heat. Blend or mouli into a smooth puree and spread out on greasproof or silicone sheets on oven or dehydrator trays. Dry at a low temperature in the oven (60 degrees celsius for up to 10 hours) They are ready when there are not still wet patches and the leather is flexible and comes away easily from the baking sheet. Store in sheets or roll up in strips and store in an air tight container.